Invasive alien species and disease risk: An open challenge in public and animal health

• Published in: PLoS pathogens Vol. 16; no. 10; p. e1008922
• Main Authors: Chinchio, Eleonora, Crotta, Matteo, Romeo, Claudia, Drewe, Julian A, Guitian, Javier, Ferrari, Nicola
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Public Library of Science 22-10-2020; Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subjects: Agricultural economics; Agronomy; Animal health; Animals; Anthropogenic factors; Aquatic plants; Awareness; Biodiversity; Biology and Life Sciences; Cattle; Coronaviruses; Crop damage; Disease; Distribution; Ecology; Ecology and Environmental Sciences; Economic impact; Economics; Ecosystem; Ecosystem structure; Environmental aspects; Environmental changes; Environmental impact; Environmental risk; Epidemiology; Geographical locations; Halyomorpha halys; Health aspects; Health risks; Host-parasite relationships; Human influences; Humans; Introduced Species; Invasive species; Medicine; Medicine and Health Sciences; Myocastor coypus; Parasites; Pathogenic microorganisms; Pathogens; Pearls; Pollution; Public health; Public Health - trends; Public Health Administration - trends; Respiratory diseases; Risk; River banks; Severe acute respiratory syndrome; Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2; Translocation; Tuberculosis; Vector-borne diseases; Veterinary colleges; Veterinary medicine; Viral diseases; Wild animals; Wildlife; Wildlife conservation; Zoonoses; United Kingdom; New Zealand; Italy; United Kingdom > UK; Europe
• ISSN: 1553-7374; 1553-7366; 1553-7374
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1008922

About the Authors: Eleonora Chinchio * E-mail: [e-mail] Affiliation: Department of Veterinary Medicine, Università degli Studi di Milano, Milan, Italy ORCID logo http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8104-2063 Matteo Crotta Affiliation: Veterinary Epidemiology, Economics and Public Health Group, Royal Veterinary College, Hawkshead Lane, North Mymms, Hatfield, Hertfordshire, United Kingdom ORCID logo http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5508-9028 Claudia Romeo Affiliation: Department of Veterinary Medicine, Università degli Studi di Milano, Milan, Italy Julian A. Drewe Affiliation: Veterinary Epidemiology, Economics and Public Health Group, Royal Veterinary College, Hawkshead Lane, North Mymms, Hatfield, Hertfordshire, United Kingdom Javier Guitian Affiliation: Veterinary Epidemiology, Economics and Public Health Group, Royal Veterinary College, Hawkshead Lane, North Mymms, Hatfield, Hertfordshire, United Kingdom Nicola Ferrari Affiliation: Department of Veterinary Medicine, Università degli Studi di Milano, Milan, Italy Citation: Chinchio E, Crotta M, Romeo C, Drewe JA, Guitian J, Ferrari N (2020) Invasive alien species and disease risk: Why we should care about invasive alien species from a health perspective The anthropogenic movement of pathogens into new geographic locations or host species, so-called “pathogen pollution” [1], is one of the main threats to human and animal health in a globalized world. Since the majority of zoonotic emerging diseases originate from wildlife [2], as recent outbreaks like Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), Nipah, or Chikungunya point out, particular attention should be paid to wild animals’ translocations, which represent a potential driver of change in pathogen ecology and distribution [1]. Some well-known examples of IAS include the south-American coypu Myocastor coypus, invasive in North America, Europe, and Asia, where it causes both environmental and economic impacts consuming aquatic vegetation and undermining riverbanks [5], and the eastern-Asiatic brown marmorated stink bug Halyomorpha halys, a successful global invader causing severe economic damages to agricultural crops [6]. Besides affecting biodiversity conservation and economy, IAS, as translocated species, may promote pathogen pollution in the invaded area leading to the emergence of diseases [1,7–9]. To this aim, we provide here an overview of how animal IAS may affect local disease dynamics both directly and indirectly, i.e., acting as pathogen hosts or disrupting the recipient ecosystem structure, through real-case examples from the ecological literature, and, in the last paragraph, we propose future initiatives aimed at improving our capacity for targeted actions toward the IAS most likely to threaten human and animal health, calling for an increased involvement of people working in the fields of animal and public health in a new invasion epidemiology field.